"I am honored to be admitted to such a group, and am smugly satisfied to see that 'disclaimer' has been replaced by 'disclosure' in a different Dispatch newsletter reporting the same story.🤓"
Morning all...and I have a minor problem saying "Happy" Good Friday even though I know the point being made...lol...I will admit that when I was in Catholic School, we had to do stations of the cross every Friday during Lent...I hated it with a passion, boring, tedious and painful ( we had to kneel on the concrete in front of each station). and even though I understood the point being made...I didn't get it and had a negative reaction to the enthusiasm the nuns and other church officials had for punishing people....this was one of many things that made it a struggle for me to embrace this stuff....not to mention their refusal to answer my questions. And the general meanness...
But, today is also NO HOUSEWORK DAY!!! And BEER day...and traffic coming into work was very light, as most people have the day off , and today is also Opening Day for The Guardians...
I didn't read the article yet, been one of those weeks were my sadness meter is a bit high, I saved it for later....
Happy Easter, and while not wishing to diminish the religious nature of the weekend, Happy NO HOUSEWORKDAY and BEER, too! Thanks for the article. I'll check it out.
I’ve been listening to the Empire podcast. India is being divided from Pakistan, and it was a horrible time for a lot of people. I’m learning more about Gandhi, Mountbatten, Nehru, and Jinnah. I just did a search, and there’s a lot on Mountbatten’s wife’s affair with Nehru. They also talked about Idi Amin kicking Indian families out Uganda. (They had been there for generations.) History is so interesting.
The nice thing is that there’s so many podcasts that are excellent (and books, of course). I think the time period from WWI through post WWII are my favorites, although I don’t necessarily like war! It’s the people, and all of the things that actually went right. Even through the worst, humans manage to survive and move on.
I have always been interested in what the people are like...I was always fascinated by time travel to the past to observe , I even wrote a shot story about it in Jr High...lol
That was something Dan Carlin (Hardcore History) always talked about, although he said he just wanted to be an observer. Of course, he’s into war, so just observing would be optimum.
I am far more fascinated with a lot older history ( middle ages) and especially ancient history and sadly, maybe because I know a lot of it, more interested in other countries than ours...
I’m not great with American History, and I know I’ve already said that my mom’s family had a number of famous relatives. I like the middle ages, too, and maybe it’s because of all the things going on now that I’ve been drawn into a more recent timeframe. Years ago I got into reading biographies, including Elizabeth, Victoria, Catherine, Napoleon, etc. I liked English and Russian history the most, I guess.
I have a book about the Middle Ages I keep wanting to read, but there are too many distractions!
I remember one very good/sad piece on NPR about a family who adopted one of these kids. I also have a cousin who adopted a baby (or very young child) from Romania. It hasn’t been easy for any of them. And then, I filled in for a woman who had traveled with her husband to China to adopt a baby girl. I was called back to work at the same place several times, and I still remember how disappointed this woman was that her little girl would not warm up to her and her husband.
Yes, for all the complaining about the U.S., people need to look more closely at what’s happening in the rest of the world.
It's a crapshoot when you adopt. You cannot know how kids will react to their time in the orphanage. Our daughter is bubbly and social, others are withdrawn.
An ex-girlfriend of mine (we remain good friends) adopted a little boy from Taiwan. Her parents were missionaries there, in college she didn't want to be a missionary or a pastor's wife....five years later she's in Taiwan as a missionary! And she adopted a little boy. Her little boy is now grown up, a fine man. But introverted, even shy.
You know more about it than I do, but my understanding is that even foster kids who’ve been in various homes may have developed emotional scarring along the way. And some of us are just born with difficult personalities, he said glancing furtively at his imaginary friend with the angry clown facial paint and boxing gloves…
I see so many families who struggle with at least one of their children. Since I don’t have any, I’m very grateful to those who do. I’m also a lot more tolerant of the grocery store temper tantrums because I get to leave them behind!
😂 My mom said that one Christmas Eve service, the minister said Merry Christmas to the congregation, and one little boy responded, “Bah humbug!” (Everyone laughed.)
An interesting read this morning. Katie and I originally applied to adopt from Romania, and were in queue when they shut down their adoption program. I had friends who tried to adopt from Romania, and they had a very negative experience. But they had adopted older kids, where the damage had largely set it.
I disagree about "I love you" vs "you are safe". They need both, and they need to hear the two overlap. "I am safe because they love me".
We adopted from Ukraine, and we adopted a little girl, who was 14 months old when we first met her. She had no toys in the orphanage, and was fed 3x a day, mostly porridge. They sat in a semi-circle, the worker had one spoon and one bowl for 6-10 kids. She put a spoonful in their mouth, moved to the next kid. If you were looking away, or had your mouth shut, she moved to the next kid. So kids were trained to lean forward, their mouths wide open. It'd be cute if you didn't know they had been underfed. On the other hand, since we brought food with when we visited (including bananas), our daughter thought we were heroes! A month after we got there she weighed less than 15 pounds, even though she in the 90th percentile for height (between 5-10 percentile for weight). And she had put on a pound or two with us! We visited twice a day, for about an hour.
They do not allow visitors into the bedrooms, or really into the main part of the orphanage, but it is a mostly bare room. Think "patient waiting area" of a older doctor's office, but remove the magazines and tv. The playground was dirt, no grass. There was a swing set and a monkey bar (and not a big one). The kids went everywhere single file, quietly. Go to a daycare, and the noise is loud. The orphanage is quiet.
Our daughter is now 21 (this year is our 20th anniversary of adopting her), she cannot keep her room clean; she does better with less stuff. She still hoards food! We find little stashes periodically throughout the house. She nibbles. She rarely eats a lot of anything, but would prefer to eat 10x a day. Going to restaurants is frustrating because she'll order a "large", when she won't eat a kid's portion.
She does well with special attention, taking her for a drive, going to a store, etc. She acts up when it is someone else's special day, as she doesn't get a lot of attention. That is why she bonded with us. She had two hours a day of mostly individual attention. We fed her food, we helped her walk, our son (9 at the time) swung her. His gameboy fascinated her, it made noise! The nurse we rented our house from told us she would do fine with us because she napped in my arms--that meant she had learned to trust us. I terrified her at first because the staff at the orphanage was all female, she had never seen a beard before! I might be a grizzly bear! Although after feeding her cookies every day she might have decided I was the cookie monster's little brother.
Overall, she is so much better off here, than there. She is safe, well fed, well loved, goes to community college (phlebotomy) part time. Most people who meet her do not know she is adopted (we told all our friends and family), she is reasonably well adjusted. But if we go out to dinner and I order shrimp she'll still steal one or two off my plate.
I read the article thinking to myself, “I’d rather be ignorant this stuff happens in the world” because you feel so helpless. But it elicited your story, Jay, which made it all worth it. Thank you for being one who saves children.
Thank you Anne, Happy Easter! Although at the Muthaship our French colleague said that was a hot take until Sunday....Who knew 2,000 years ago was still a hot take? 🙄
In honor of our good friend Phil, I'll show myself to the 🚪!
The Justice Thomas story in Pro Publica was gobsmacking. Didn't know until I read this morning that Harlan Crow is a minority investor in The Dispatch.
I thought that was how it worked. Just consider it a nice contribution for those of us who remain. Maybe there will still be some worthwhile articles in the meantime.
This group is a treasure! I see different people stop by every so often, and then there’s the rest of us. I enjoy everyone, and when I get into the comments every morning, I feel like I’m with my friends.
It’s not for everyone. There are times when I don’t want to subscribe to anything. I keep playing around with ending our subscription to NR. We only read it sporadically, but then there are a few articles that are really good. I have a budget for subscriptions, so it’s not the money necessarily. We do listen to a number of the podcasts, so maybe we’re supporting that. 🤷♀️
But I have to confess that my conditioned response to such stories is: The excitement with which this was reported tells me there’s probably similar behavior on the other side which the liberal media won’t try to scandalize. For instance, maybe it is a commonplace for Mike Bloomberg to use his spare couch change to have Justice Sotomayor chauffeured hither and yon, but the headline if that were to come to light would say, under loving imagery, “Wise Latina justice enjoys the well deserved fruits of her activist life in the pursuit of greater social justice for women and minorities.”
My conditioned response is that the media will protect the narrative at all costs: if a liberal does something it is by definition praiseworthy; if a conservative does something similar, it is undeniable proof of sinister goings-on dripping with sneaky evil.
I don't know, I can't speak for the past because I didn't pay attention to bias or what papers /news sources did ( though frankly, at that point in time they weren't like they are now)...but lately to me I think there is more inner group fighting than not...we have never been cohesive as long as I can remember...opinions all over the place...
And frankly, I have seen absolute glee from one faction over the misfortunes of the other all the time
AS I actually don't belong to any one group. I guess I didn't experience any of this and don't think bias in itself is evil, if I know the bias it is easier for me to cut through to the facts or research it or find people I trust from any side
Then again, I am always about people getting along and just don't get it period.
PS: I also believe traits bad or good exist in everyone, regardless of ideology or group participation, so I find it more human behavior than party behavior...
He is the Crow in Trammel Crow, one of the biggest real estate developers in the country. I'm not sure I agree regarding the other justices. Thomas seems to have a funny take on when to recuse himself from cases---witness his wife's involvement in the whole election fraud scheme. If you read the article, it seems as if Thomas was flagged for this years ago in his financial disclosures. He could have stopped doing it; instead he stopped reporting it. That's just wrong.
When I first saw the headline yesterday, I thought, if it wasn’t in relation to any particular case before the court, what of it? As long as it isn’t breaking the law, it may not be an attractive scene, depending on whether the dramatists choose an ominous score or a romantic one.
The thing is that if you aren’t inclined toward the left side of the political spectrum, you can’t help but observe that the reporting spends ten times as much effort in scrutinizing political groups and figures on the right for scandal as it does in scrutinizing anything on the left. So the lack of news about such bad behavior in my mind does not mean there is nothing questionable going on.
As I say, this is my failing. Well, one of the known ones, at least. ;-)
It's not a failing. It is reasonable skepticism. I have no reason to believe either the left or right behave uniquely in general terms. To the contrary, they show the same partisanship and unwillingness to cooperate and seek solutions in the best interest of the country at large. They are all 24/7 fundraisers interested first in their own reelection and if you can find a few exceptions, I'm sure you can find them on both sides, too. This extends to FOX and CNN. How different are they? They both live off of subscriptions and advertising and program to maximize that. This is where CNN put money ahead of partisanship. It was CNN's incessant, free coverage of Trump that got him elected. But, it was good for the bottom line. It's all the same. On the other hand, walnut, oak and maple (for example) have different properties and each piece has a unique grain pattern so you can find me in the workshop instead of the TV.
The problem results from there being no code of ethics for the court. Roberts can’t do anything about it; Clarence can tell him to pound sand. Look, the judge in the trump case is getting banged in the times this morning for having given $20 to the Biden campaign. Trumps attorneys will try to have him removed. As far as I can tell, the liberal media is the entity that flagged that
When rulers come up with "codes of ethics" for themselves, it doesn't mean anything. Maybe a committee of a dozen randomly selected people should be assembled to write "codes of ethics" for various assemblages of rulers.
Stipulate that, "It's good to be the king!" is evenly distributed across the ideological spectrum and across a variety of occupations where a person has significant clout, "significant" being relative, of course. (I think this is true, because people are people, but I don't know if there's a significant body of research supporting the thesis.)
The interesting question for me is, "Why?" What is the personal payoff for being part of the super-rich-people scene? Is the "service" really that much better than just being a regular person who's a good tipper? Is dying in bed at Rich Guy Ranch that much more comfortable than dying in bed at home with your cat?
What's the personal payoff for staying somewhere with exotic quartz countertops in the bathroom? Does Rich Person really feel thrilled by the fixtures each time she washes her hands?
For some odd reason the other day I found myself wondering whatever happened to those Romanian orphans—hadn’t occurred to me in years.
I actually found the follow up stories positive in general, believe it or not. The people are grown and living much better than they would have, undoubtedly, dealing with the complications of life in the complicated ways we humans interact with the world and each other. The misery of their lives under that regime came to an end.
Thinking of it as a positive story probably is a side effect of spending so long studying the horrific track record of dictatorships…
If you lived here, you could volunteer at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue and take care of infant and adult animals of many kinds, though not, to be fair, sea otters!
I rescued one on a really cold winter day! I saw it on a sidewalk, and realized it had to be a pet, so I followed it through people’s backyards (the snow was deep, but I could walk on top), and finally caught it. I had mittens on, and I was really scared that it would bite.
I managed to get it back to my car, where it quickly hid under the seats. First I went up to a few houses, but no one claimed it. Then I tried taking it to our local animal shelter, but they said I had to take it to Madison (an hour away). Crap! As I was driving it crawled out, and tried getting into the pocket of my coat, so I finally ended up letting it slip inside my coat, next to me. I have to tell you, I was very nervous at first, but it cuddled up and went to sleep.
I ended up paying the shelter in Madison to take it, but was happy to see one of the young men working there carrying it around. It was very tame, and I hope it got a good home! (It did stink.)
Hounds seem to get smelly, but a lot of people don’t realize they need to be bathed every so often. The nice thing about the poodle type breeds is (unless they roll in something) they don’t tend to smell bad. Yes, litter box training is definitely an advantage.
Good morning, I went out around 10 yesterday morning and didn't check any news until a few minutes ago and, as I did, I knew I would not have missed anything and I found I had not. There is still war, corruption, scandal and bad weather somewhere and I didn't miss it. I really think consuming less of it is the way to go.
Here's another crazy value story. If you offered to pay me to do some sanding of wood for you for 8 hours, I'd pass. On the other hand, Yesterday morning a young friend asked if I could help him and his partner meet a deadline so I spent 8 hours doing final sanding and laser etching their logo on 15 table tops -- for free. Of course, now I'm wiped out and won't do much of my own work today, but oh well. Sometimes we do stuff like that. So, now back to bed. Later
I just added someone to the double-secret EBDCEC roster, over on the mothership. And put in a plug for our "little platoons."
Mbennett1944 replied:
"I am honored to be admitted to such a group, and am smugly satisfied to see that 'disclaimer' has been replaced by 'disclosure' in a different Dispatch newsletter reporting the same story.🤓"
Nailed it!
Btw, I never mentioned it but Electruck was good. Too late for a like?
Morning all...and I have a minor problem saying "Happy" Good Friday even though I know the point being made...lol...I will admit that when I was in Catholic School, we had to do stations of the cross every Friday during Lent...I hated it with a passion, boring, tedious and painful ( we had to kneel on the concrete in front of each station). and even though I understood the point being made...I didn't get it and had a negative reaction to the enthusiasm the nuns and other church officials had for punishing people....this was one of many things that made it a struggle for me to embrace this stuff....not to mention their refusal to answer my questions. And the general meanness...
But, today is also NO HOUSEWORK DAY!!! And BEER day...and traffic coming into work was very light, as most people have the day off , and today is also Opening Day for The Guardians...
I didn't read the article yet, been one of those weeks were my sadness meter is a bit high, I saved it for later....
In case everyone isn't around on Sunday :
https://tenor.com/view/peeps-happy-easter-happy-easter-to-all-my-peeps-gif-13718373
Happy Easter, and while not wishing to diminish the religious nature of the weekend, Happy NO HOUSEWORKDAY and BEER, too! Thanks for the article. I'll check it out.
You are Welcome
Wow. Horrible.
Thought-provoking, difficult article from The New Yorker a few days ago.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/04/10/living-in-adoptions-emotional-aftermath
Interesting. Had to skim parts, though. Seems largely to confirm my sense that life is complicated, and some people are complicated, too…
Yes.
I’ve been listening to the Empire podcast. India is being divided from Pakistan, and it was a horrible time for a lot of people. I’m learning more about Gandhi, Mountbatten, Nehru, and Jinnah. I just did a search, and there’s a lot on Mountbatten’s wife’s affair with Nehru. They also talked about Idi Amin kicking Indian families out Uganda. (They had been there for generations.) History is so interesting.
Yes, it is, that is why I wish I could have gotten the Phd in it...lol
The nice thing is that there’s so many podcasts that are excellent (and books, of course). I think the time period from WWI through post WWII are my favorites, although I don’t necessarily like war! It’s the people, and all of the things that actually went right. Even through the worst, humans manage to survive and move on.
I have always been interested in what the people are like...I was always fascinated by time travel to the past to observe , I even wrote a shot story about it in Jr High...lol
That was something Dan Carlin (Hardcore History) always talked about, although he said he just wanted to be an observer. Of course, he’s into war, so just observing would be optimum.
I am far more fascinated with a lot older history ( middle ages) and especially ancient history and sadly, maybe because I know a lot of it, more interested in other countries than ours...
I’m not great with American History, and I know I’ve already said that my mom’s family had a number of famous relatives. I like the middle ages, too, and maybe it’s because of all the things going on now that I’ve been drawn into a more recent timeframe. Years ago I got into reading biographies, including Elizabeth, Victoria, Catherine, Napoleon, etc. I liked English and Russian history the most, I guess.
I have a book about the Middle Ages I keep wanting to read, but there are too many distractions!
Yeah, I have read a lot of biographies, especially about Great Britain famous people...I like their history and the Egyptians the most
I subscribe for anyone who wants to read the whole piece...here is the link
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/07/can-an-unloved-child-learn-to-love/612253/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
This was a tough read but important to be sure we understand what evil looks like.
I remember one very good/sad piece on NPR about a family who adopted one of these kids. I also have a cousin who adopted a baby (or very young child) from Romania. It hasn’t been easy for any of them. And then, I filled in for a woman who had traveled with her husband to China to adopt a baby girl. I was called back to work at the same place several times, and I still remember how disappointed this woman was that her little girl would not warm up to her and her husband.
Yes, for all the complaining about the U.S., people need to look more closely at what’s happening in the rest of the world.
It's a crapshoot when you adopt. You cannot know how kids will react to their time in the orphanage. Our daughter is bubbly and social, others are withdrawn.
An ex-girlfriend of mine (we remain good friends) adopted a little boy from Taiwan. Her parents were missionaries there, in college she didn't want to be a missionary or a pastor's wife....five years later she's in Taiwan as a missionary! And she adopted a little boy. Her little boy is now grown up, a fine man. But introverted, even shy.
I think anyone who strongly feels it is something they want to do, is to be admired. But, I also feel the same way about having children, in general!
You know more about it than I do, but my understanding is that even foster kids who’ve been in various homes may have developed emotional scarring along the way. And some of us are just born with difficult personalities, he said glancing furtively at his imaginary friend with the angry clown facial paint and boxing gloves…
HA HA...my imaginary friend was named "Ghengi" and lived behind the couch and didn't have to eat Chili or anything else I didn't like...lol
We have 2 imaginary kids. Very long story, but true.
Is one of them named “Not Me?”
No, they are Bubba and Bubbette.
I see so many families who struggle with at least one of their children. Since I don’t have any, I’m very grateful to those who do. I’m also a lot more tolerant of the grocery store temper tantrums because I get to leave them behind!
There is an old saying; there is no better sound than the sound of a crying child in church, when you know it isn't your child crying!
😂 My mom said that one Christmas Eve service, the minister said Merry Christmas to the congregation, and one little boy responded, “Bah humbug!” (Everyone laughed.)
An interesting read this morning. Katie and I originally applied to adopt from Romania, and were in queue when they shut down their adoption program. I had friends who tried to adopt from Romania, and they had a very negative experience. But they had adopted older kids, where the damage had largely set it.
I disagree about "I love you" vs "you are safe". They need both, and they need to hear the two overlap. "I am safe because they love me".
We adopted from Ukraine, and we adopted a little girl, who was 14 months old when we first met her. She had no toys in the orphanage, and was fed 3x a day, mostly porridge. They sat in a semi-circle, the worker had one spoon and one bowl for 6-10 kids. She put a spoonful in their mouth, moved to the next kid. If you were looking away, or had your mouth shut, she moved to the next kid. So kids were trained to lean forward, their mouths wide open. It'd be cute if you didn't know they had been underfed. On the other hand, since we brought food with when we visited (including bananas), our daughter thought we were heroes! A month after we got there she weighed less than 15 pounds, even though she in the 90th percentile for height (between 5-10 percentile for weight). And she had put on a pound or two with us! We visited twice a day, for about an hour.
They do not allow visitors into the bedrooms, or really into the main part of the orphanage, but it is a mostly bare room. Think "patient waiting area" of a older doctor's office, but remove the magazines and tv. The playground was dirt, no grass. There was a swing set and a monkey bar (and not a big one). The kids went everywhere single file, quietly. Go to a daycare, and the noise is loud. The orphanage is quiet.
Our daughter is now 21 (this year is our 20th anniversary of adopting her), she cannot keep her room clean; she does better with less stuff. She still hoards food! We find little stashes periodically throughout the house. She nibbles. She rarely eats a lot of anything, but would prefer to eat 10x a day. Going to restaurants is frustrating because she'll order a "large", when she won't eat a kid's portion.
She does well with special attention, taking her for a drive, going to a store, etc. She acts up when it is someone else's special day, as she doesn't get a lot of attention. That is why she bonded with us. She had two hours a day of mostly individual attention. We fed her food, we helped her walk, our son (9 at the time) swung her. His gameboy fascinated her, it made noise! The nurse we rented our house from told us she would do fine with us because she napped in my arms--that meant she had learned to trust us. I terrified her at first because the staff at the orphanage was all female, she had never seen a beard before! I might be a grizzly bear! Although after feeding her cookies every day she might have decided I was the cookie monster's little brother.
Overall, she is so much better off here, than there. She is safe, well fed, well loved, goes to community college (phlebotomy) part time. Most people who meet her do not know she is adopted (we told all our friends and family), she is reasonably well adjusted. But if we go out to dinner and I order shrimp she'll still steal one or two off my plate.
I read the article thinking to myself, “I’d rather be ignorant this stuff happens in the world” because you feel so helpless. But it elicited your story, Jay, which made it all worth it. Thank you for being one who saves children.
Thanks for sharing that, Jay. Happy Easter!
Thank you Anne, Happy Easter! Although at the Muthaship our French colleague said that was a hot take until Sunday....Who knew 2,000 years ago was still a hot take? 🙄
In honor of our good friend Phil, I'll show myself to the 🚪!
😂
Our French colleague is tres drole.
Oui!
The Justice Thomas story in Pro Publica was gobsmacking. Didn't know until I read this morning that Harlan Crow is a minority investor in The Dispatch.
TMD was very interesting this morning.
I have canceled but my subscription runs till December and they don’t do refunds. Even PUCK refunded when I cancelled
I thought that was how it worked. Just consider it a nice contribution for those of us who remain. Maybe there will still be some worthwhile articles in the meantime.
The weird thing is, hadthis group not formed, i would have stayed just to keep my little community
I'm not sure I would have stayed, but I left too and this is the place to be.
All the cool kids are here,
This group is a treasure! I see different people stop by every so often, and then there’s the rest of us. I enjoy everyone, and when I get into the comments every morning, I feel like I’m with my friends.
EXACTLY!
As I’ve said before, I will miss some of the columns, just not enough
It’s not for everyone. There are times when I don’t want to subscribe to anything. I keep playing around with ending our subscription to NR. We only read it sporadically, but then there are a few articles that are really good. I have a budget for subscriptions, so it’s not the money necessarily. We do listen to a number of the podcasts, so maybe we’re supporting that. 🤷♀️
I had never heard of Harlan Crow before.
But I have to confess that my conditioned response to such stories is: The excitement with which this was reported tells me there’s probably similar behavior on the other side which the liberal media won’t try to scandalize. For instance, maybe it is a commonplace for Mike Bloomberg to use his spare couch change to have Justice Sotomayor chauffeured hither and yon, but the headline if that were to come to light would say, under loving imagery, “Wise Latina justice enjoys the well deserved fruits of her activist life in the pursuit of greater social justice for women and minorities.”
My conditioned response is that the media will protect the narrative at all costs: if a liberal does something it is by definition praiseworthy; if a conservative does something similar, it is undeniable proof of sinister goings-on dripping with sneaky evil.
This is my bias after years of training.
When I used to read news, I'd deliberately read the other side's take of the story, whichever side other meant in that context. Fair and balanced.
I don't know, I can't speak for the past because I didn't pay attention to bias or what papers /news sources did ( though frankly, at that point in time they weren't like they are now)...but lately to me I think there is more inner group fighting than not...we have never been cohesive as long as I can remember...opinions all over the place...
And frankly, I have seen absolute glee from one faction over the misfortunes of the other all the time
AS I actually don't belong to any one group. I guess I didn't experience any of this and don't think bias in itself is evil, if I know the bias it is easier for me to cut through to the facts or research it or find people I trust from any side
Then again, I am always about people getting along and just don't get it period.
PS: I also believe traits bad or good exist in everyone, regardless of ideology or group participation, so I find it more human behavior than party behavior...
He is the Crow in Trammel Crow, one of the biggest real estate developers in the country. I'm not sure I agree regarding the other justices. Thomas seems to have a funny take on when to recuse himself from cases---witness his wife's involvement in the whole election fraud scheme. If you read the article, it seems as if Thomas was flagged for this years ago in his financial disclosures. He could have stopped doing it; instead he stopped reporting it. That's just wrong.
As I say, it is a conditioned response.
When I first saw the headline yesterday, I thought, if it wasn’t in relation to any particular case before the court, what of it? As long as it isn’t breaking the law, it may not be an attractive scene, depending on whether the dramatists choose an ominous score or a romantic one.
The thing is that if you aren’t inclined toward the left side of the political spectrum, you can’t help but observe that the reporting spends ten times as much effort in scrutinizing political groups and figures on the right for scandal as it does in scrutinizing anything on the left. So the lack of news about such bad behavior in my mind does not mean there is nothing questionable going on.
As I say, this is my failing. Well, one of the known ones, at least. ;-)
It's not a failing. It is reasonable skepticism. I have no reason to believe either the left or right behave uniquely in general terms. To the contrary, they show the same partisanship and unwillingness to cooperate and seek solutions in the best interest of the country at large. They are all 24/7 fundraisers interested first in their own reelection and if you can find a few exceptions, I'm sure you can find them on both sides, too. This extends to FOX and CNN. How different are they? They both live off of subscriptions and advertising and program to maximize that. This is where CNN put money ahead of partisanship. It was CNN's incessant, free coverage of Trump that got him elected. But, it was good for the bottom line. It's all the same. On the other hand, walnut, oak and maple (for example) have different properties and each piece has a unique grain pattern so you can find me in the workshop instead of the TV.
The problem results from there being no code of ethics for the court. Roberts can’t do anything about it; Clarence can tell him to pound sand. Look, the judge in the trump case is getting banged in the times this morning for having given $20 to the Biden campaign. Trumps attorneys will try to have him removed. As far as I can tell, the liberal media is the entity that flagged that
Fair point!
When rulers come up with "codes of ethics" for themselves, it doesn't mean anything. Maybe a committee of a dozen randomly selected people should be assembled to write "codes of ethics" for various assemblages of rulers.
I volunteer us!
Stipulate that, "It's good to be the king!" is evenly distributed across the ideological spectrum and across a variety of occupations where a person has significant clout, "significant" being relative, of course. (I think this is true, because people are people, but I don't know if there's a significant body of research supporting the thesis.)
The interesting question for me is, "Why?" What is the personal payoff for being part of the super-rich-people scene? Is the "service" really that much better than just being a regular person who's a good tipper? Is dying in bed at Rich Guy Ranch that much more comfortable than dying in bed at home with your cat?
What's the personal payoff for staying somewhere with exotic quartz countertops in the bathroom? Does Rich Person really feel thrilled by the fixtures each time she washes her hands?
Mine too, Marque.
It's good to be one of the nine black-robed gods. Justice Scalia was at an exclusive rich-guy place when he died from good living.
I expect similar activity could be found regarding many other rulers, because it's good to be them.
Sorry, couldn't read it. Just. Couldn't.
I guess I do need to get out more after all.
For some odd reason the other day I found myself wondering whatever happened to those Romanian orphans—hadn’t occurred to me in years.
I actually found the follow up stories positive in general, believe it or not. The people are grown and living much better than they would have, undoubtedly, dealing with the complications of life in the complicated ways we humans interact with the world and each other. The misery of their lives under that regime came to an end.
Thinking of it as a positive story probably is a side effect of spending so long studying the horrific track record of dictatorships…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhuvaKLJbNw
Baby otters!
OMG..they are so freakin cute...that should cure any grouchy people of being grouchy...lol
😍 I want a job taking care of baby otters! I’d even do it for free!
If you lived here, you could volunteer at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue and take care of infant and adult animals of many kinds, though not, to be fair, sea otters!
I’d like that, too! And, I meant to also with you Happy Easter, Cynthia. May everyone at church be on their best behavior!
We have two bilingual things today, but Sunday will be in Spanish, what a relief!
I was just using some awful language about a psalm arrangement our music director chose.
The first thing was a scarmable, but the second one went well. Either Father's secretary is not always telling him things, or she is but he forgets.
Thank goodness!
After that one, YouTube recommended this: “Ferret shows human her babies.”
https://youtu.be/OcCRZkeqFY8
Mine was a bit about owls, whom I adore
That’s so interesting!!! I wonder what the mom actually wants? “Hey, you take care of these noisy things for awhile!” Adorable!!
Awwwww.
Keeping mustelids as pets has never been my idea of a wise choice.
Had a friend who had one—they are bitey, and they stink!
My youngest brother who was allergic to cats and dogs had a pet one for a long time
I was long moved away from home by then, so I had little interaction with him
I rescued one on a really cold winter day! I saw it on a sidewalk, and realized it had to be a pet, so I followed it through people’s backyards (the snow was deep, but I could walk on top), and finally caught it. I had mittens on, and I was really scared that it would bite.
I managed to get it back to my car, where it quickly hid under the seats. First I went up to a few houses, but no one claimed it. Then I tried taking it to our local animal shelter, but they said I had to take it to Madison (an hour away). Crap! As I was driving it crawled out, and tried getting into the pocket of my coat, so I finally ended up letting it slip inside my coat, next to me. I have to tell you, I was very nervous at first, but it cuddled up and went to sleep.
I ended up paying the shelter in Madison to take it, but was happy to see one of the young men working there carrying it around. It was very tame, and I hope it got a good home! (It did stink.)
That’s a great story.
Thanks, Jack. I felt pretty good about it, and I even took a photo of he/she curled up next to me.
To be fair, a lot of dogs are like that, too. At least ferrets can be box-trained.
Hounds seem to get smelly, but a lot of people don’t realize they need to be bathed every so often. The nice thing about the poodle type breeds is (unless they roll in something) they don’t tend to smell bad. Yes, litter box training is definitely an advantage.
I think all dogs have an odd smell, even when people do bathe them...could just be my nose...lol...and especially when they are wet
About the Romanian horrors. Speechless.
Good morning, I went out around 10 yesterday morning and didn't check any news until a few minutes ago and, as I did, I knew I would not have missed anything and I found I had not. There is still war, corruption, scandal and bad weather somewhere and I didn't miss it. I really think consuming less of it is the way to go.
Yeah, but you have a lot of other options to do...lol
There was a downpour here about 5:30 a.m. Jake, the brown cat, got wet.
Thunder and lightning around four, then flash flood warning around six this morning. Took me a bit to find my phone to shut it off.
Ugh. But we need the rain.
Morning! Pretty much agree about the news, on the whole…
Just replied to your Q for Toni in TX on yesterday’s thread, btw.
Here's another crazy value story. If you offered to pay me to do some sanding of wood for you for 8 hours, I'd pass. On the other hand, Yesterday morning a young friend asked if I could help him and his partner meet a deadline so I spent 8 hours doing final sanding and laser etching their logo on 15 table tops -- for free. Of course, now I'm wiped out and won't do much of my own work today, but oh well. Sometimes we do stuff like that. So, now back to bed. Later
If you offered to pay Asuncion de Maria and me to be Spanish music directors, we'd take your money.
Would that I could make that offer!
Most people don't need a Spanish music director around the house.
It's good to know where to find one. You know, when my neighbor asks if I can recommend a Spanish music director, I'll be ready.